Content Area Reading Inventory - Handout
Format of a Content Area Reading Inventory (CARI)
ACARIshouldhave3mainsec4ons.Theyare:
PartI-Evalua4onoftheAbilitytoUseCommonTextbookComponents
• KnowledgeofBookParts(textorganiza4on)(4-5ques4ons)
• UseofComprehensionAides(boldprint,sub-headingsetc.)(2ques4ons)
• Interpreta4on,Comprehension&useofCharts&Diagram(2ques4ons)
PartII-ContentVocabularyKnowledge(4-6ques4ons)
• Knowledge&recallofrelevantvocabulary
• Useofcontextcluestounderstandvocabulary
•
•
•
•
PartIII-Informa-onalReadingComprehensionSkillsandStrategies
ComprehensionoftheMainIdea(1ques4on)
Understandingofsuppor4ngdetails(2ques4ons)
Explicitorfactbased(2-3ques4ons)
Comprehendingimplicitinforma4on(drawingconclusions/evalua4ng/judging)(2
-3ques4ons)
Crea)ngaCARI
Step1
Chooseapassageofatleast3-4pagesfromthetextbookyouhavechosen.
Step2
Constructabout20ques4onsrelatedtothetext.Itisrecommendedtocreateabout:
8-10ques4onsforPartI
4-6ques4onsforPartII
7-9ques4onsforPartIII
Step3
• explaintostudentsthattheCARIisnotmeantforgradingpurposesbutforplanning
teachingac4vi4es
• Besuretowalkyourstudentsthroughthesec4onsoftheCARIandmodelappropriate
responses
Step4
• Don’tgivetheen4reCARIononeday.YoucouldgivePartIononedayandPartsIIand
PartIIIonseparatedays.Eachpartshouldn’ttakemorethanapproximately20
minutes.
Reference:Reutzel,R.&Cooter,R.(2008).TeachingChildrentoRead:Theteachermakesthedifference.5thEd.NewJersey:
PearsonEduca4on.pp.352-353
Content Area Reading Inventory - Handout
Sample Questions - Using Book Parts
Introduction: These questions are designed to help you understand the
organization of your text and to enable you to use it more effectively. You
may use your text in answering the questions.
1. Where would you look to locate a chapter on municipal government in
the text?
a) Glossary
b) Table of Contents
c) Literary Terms and Techniques
d) Index of Authors and Titles
2. If you came across the word “council” in your reading in the text, where
would you look first for a definition?
a) Table of Contents
b) Literary Terms and Techniques
c) Glossary
d) Dictionary
3. The study and discussion questions for most of the information in the text
are found:
a) in the Table of Contents
b) after each chapter
c) in a separate section at the end of the book
d) immediately before each selection
(Are students are aware of and know how to use the unique features of the
assigned textbook. Questions may be open-ended or multiple choice.)
Rakes,Thomas,&Smith,Lana.AssessingReadingintheContentAreas-Table9.1
Retrievedin:http://www.kendallhunt.com/contentarealiteracy/articles/
rakes_smith.pdf
Content Area Reading Inventory - Handout
StrategiesforEvalua0ngVocabulary
Knowledgeofwordmeaningsclearlyinfluencesreadingperformance.Awordisalabel
foraconceptoranidea.Anindividual’swordsreflectgeneralizedknowledgeabouta
topic.
WhattoConsiderWhenEvaluaAngVocabulary
-DoesthestudentaEendtotheprint(leEersetc.)?
-Canthestudentrelatevocabularytocategories?
-DoesthestudentrecognizemulAplemeaningsforwords?
-Doesthestudentrecognizeaffixes/prefixes/rootwords?
HowtoAssessVocabulary
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Readawordandcircleadefini&on.
Readawordandcircleasynonym.
Readawordandcircleanantonym.
Readasentenceandwriteinthemissingword.
Readapassageandfillinthemissingblanks(cloze).
Readawordandputitinacategory.
Findthewordinacategorythatdoesn’tbelong.
OtherExamples
ProvideadefiniAon:
“ThespectatorswereexcitedbytheacAon.”Inthissentencewhatdoesspectators
mean?_________________________________________________
Or
Draw&Label2typesofleaves.1leafshouldhaveanalternaAngleafpaEernandtheotheracompositeleaf
paEern.
ThenwriteasentencebelowyourdrawingtodescribeeachleafpaEern.
AlternatingLeafPattern:
CompositeLeafPattern:
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Content Area Reading Inventory - Handout
StudentsSelf-Evalua0onofVocabulary
InaddiAon,hereisanexampleofanINFORMALmethodforstudentstoself-assesstheir
ownvocabularyonthetopicofvolcanoes:
Word
Ihavenever
heardthisword.
I’veheardthisword& Iamveryfamiliar
Iknowsomething
withthisword.
aboutitsmeaning
molten
lava
crater
crust
Ablankchartsimilartothisonecouldbeusedinastudent’snotebookatthebeginning
ofeachnewunit.
Lipson,M.,&Wixson,K.,(2009).Assessment&Instruc&onofReadingandWri&ngDifficul&es:AnInterac&veApproach.(4thed.).Boston:
PearsonEducaAon,Inc.(pp.323-326).
Content Area Reading Inventory - Handout
ReferencesforfurtherInforma0on:
20 Ways to Teach Text Structure.
Retrieved in: http://www.stclair.k12.il.us/ccore/ELAShifts/documents/
Info%20Text/Textstructure_resources.pdf
Lipson, M., & Wixson, K., (2009). Assessment & Instruction of Reading
and Writing Difficulties: An Interactive Approach. (4th ed.). Boston:
Pearson Education, Inc. (pp. 323-326).
Parts of A Book: Knight Story
Retrieved in: http://www.slideshare.net/jamiefleming/parts-of-abook-14207256
Rakes, T. & Smith, L. Assessing Reading in the Content Areas
Retrieved in: http://www.kendallhunt.com/contentarealiteracy/
articles/rakes_smith.pdf
Reutzel, R. & Cooter, R. (2008). Teaching Children to Read: The
teacher makes the difference. 5th Ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education.
pp. 352-353
Think Literacy: Cross-Curricular Approaches.
Retrieved in:
https://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/studentsuccess/thinkliteracy/files/
Reading.pdf